I don’t remember birthdays very often, but 28 June always is my friend’s birthday! In 2018, he celebrated it in Denmark with his American and Danish cousins and families. Unlike many people with immigrant roots, my friend Terry, proud of his family’s Danish roots, has learned Danish and has been back to Denmark to visit his Danish family on occasion.
Terry and I met when we were two or so years old. On his and my first day of kindergarten, we began our education and the next phase of our friendship. I especially enjoyed being invited to go to the family farm, where his grandparents and an aunt and uncle and two cousins lived. (That’s a photo of Terry on his first day of kindergarten.)
Terry had lots of family on both sides who lived in the area, and I enjoyed meeting and knowing them all! (Most of my family lived in Colorado, California, even one in Cairo, Egypt, so I rarely saw any of them.)
Terry and I grew up in a neighborhood where we played baseball in the city lot, kick the can, and other kid games. Terry and I made up a game, in fact, that we called “hello fun”. There was a cottonwood tree on the corner of 10th and Mississippi. We’d sit on the large kid-sized exposed root of this tree and wave and yell “Hello!” at people in cars driving by. Well, we thought it was fun!
We both graduated high school in time, went to different schools and followed different paths for a few years, Terry becoming a librarian in charge of all town school libraries and I, a quality assurance guy in a hose factory.
Terry has been on the committee that organizes high school reunions for as long as I can remember. I think he’s been doing it since the first one, locating people, sending emails and letters, maintaining reunion records and more. He’s also one of the organizers of the monthly get togethers where a small group of Class of 1966 friends and a couple Class of 1967 friends have a social time with food, drink, and chatter.
=(^+^)=
This is off topic today because I wanted to celebrate a friend, a very special person in my life, a friend for over 70 years! I’ve had very few who’ve been that special. Others have died. That makes Terry just that much more special, eh?! I’m glad we both are around for yet another birthday in 2023.
Andy gave me his ok to let him have a day off so I could celebrate my friendship with Terry on Terry’s special day.
Happy Birthday to your friend.
He will appreciate it!
Happy Birthday to Terry!
He will appreciate it!
Happy Birthday to your friend, Doug! I have a school friend from 4th grade on, but not kindergarten (well, I never went to kindergarten). Best wishes to both of you, and may your friendship continue to 120.
Thanks, Dolly! Those friends one has from childhood tend to be the best, though I have a couple army pals still after 50 + years. One never knows who’ll be the keepers! Two army pals I thought I’s still be buddies with turned out to be the temporary kind.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean.
Andy is probably happy to be out of the limelight today and to have a day off.
He gets the whole show tomorrow!
It’s wonderful that you guys have been friends for so long, Doug! I lost contact with my old buddies long ago…
They were the middle kind of friends. I think some people are meant to be short term “friends”.
I think you are right, Doug. Even after all of the crazy stuff we did together!
A very Happy Birthday to your friend Terry, Doug! Long time friends are the best!
Thanks! That’s exactly so.
Wishing Terry a Happy Birthday, Doug. Hope you both have many more to come! Give my best to little Andy cat, too.
Thanks! Andy has his 12th birthday on 1 July, another milestone here.
Cherish every one of them. “Every day is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
How true! I have this hanging on the wall where i pass it several times a day: Count your blessings.
Lucky you enjoying what you still have NOT what you have.
Attitude is a huge part of achieving happiness.
Friends like this are rare and hard to find. You both are very fortunate.
We feel very fortunate to have this many years as friends!
That is a special friendship. I don’t have any friends (except for relatives) that go back that far. Some school friends moved away or disappeared (from my life) or died.
I had two others who were long time friends who died. Terry and I are pretty much solo in this regard. It took me a long time to realize there are three varieties of friends: work friends; friends for a short time in certain circumstances like college or military who don’t continue the friendship after one leaves the certain circumstances; longtime friends, the best of all!
I don’t have enemies because people who are negative for whatever reason I simply drop from my association.
The middle group used to disappoint me when I lost contact or failed to re-establish contact, had a short “reunion”, then they disappeared again, not interested in renewing the friendship. They are the ones who helped me understand some friendships aren’t meant to last beyond a short time. You associate yourself with people in those certain circumstances, but they are faux friends. That’s OK, too, since we are social animals!
My friend calls it “friends for a season and friends for a reason.”
A better way to characterize them!
I’ve had a certain friend since about 1953 when we were both toddlers, so I know how special that is between you and your friend. Happy Birthday, Terry!
Keep that one, Anne! You have a friendship there that is just short of Terry and mine! We got our start around 1950 or 1951. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it!?
A fine tribute
Thanks, Derrick! Terry is a great guy, a special person in many ways. I was blessed to “encounter” him when we were wee farts!
Happy birthday to your friend… love this post… and what a wonderful thing to see family even when they are on a different continent….
Terry went the one step farther when he went back to college to learn Danish! His Danish family probably know English, though maybe not all do. I’ll have to ask him some time. I really enjoyed meeting and knowing his family here over the year. His grandparents on both sides were interesting, lovely people. One side farmed and the other side ranched, pretty much the range of typical ways to make money here back then. In this small community, of course, I grew uo with his cousins, and spouses later on.
Very nice
The best of all is we made it to age 75. Several of our classmates died before they made it to their 20s! The inevitable mortality of us all continues to take other into their early 70s. Terry and I now are in our mid-70s, a happy state of affairs! Now that you’ve retired from your bank, I know (from your blog posts!) that you are enjoying your time of earth post work, too! I hope you have friends as steadfast as mine.They make that retirement time all the better!